France may have claimed a famous 42-27 victory, but in the moments after the match, the focus was on the injury suffered by Antoine Dupont rather than the triumph over Ireland.
Dupont was forced off the pitch in the 30th minute after Tadhg Beirne collapsed onto his knee while attempting a clear-out. The incident was described as “reprehensible,” and concerns were raised over the actions of Beirne and Calvin Nash, who had earlier received a 20-minute red card for a high tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi. These incidents have been included in a post-match report submitted to the citing commissioner.
“There is a suspicion of a quite serious knee injury to Antoine,” the team’s head coach said. “He is suffering, and we are suffering with him. I don’t want to go into details, mainly due to medical confidentiality.”
Though avoiding direct criticism of the referee, Angus Gardner, frustration was expressed over the fact that some players had to leave the field permanently while Beirne and Nash were able to continue. “We are angry and we want an explanation; so, we have cited two players. We must protect our players.” Given the report submission, it seems likely that Beirne and Nash will be unavailable for the final match against Scotland.
Dupont showed his frustration as he left the field, and several players questioned Gardner about the decision not to penalize Beirne. Gardner explained that he saw the incident as an unfortunate accident.
Ireland’s head coach defended Beirne’s actions, describing the moment as an unavoidable part of the game. “I think it’s just a rugby incident where Tadhg cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont, and he gets hit on the back of that. That can happen. Players have a real awareness now about cleaning out on the lower limb of a player, which could create that type of injury that happened today, but that wasn’t the case. Tadhg was securing his own ball and unfortunately, that happened. It was just one of those things, unfortunately. I probably have to look back at it again, but we feel like the right decision was made.”
The Irish team’s head coach also pointed to a lack of finishing as a key factor in their defeat. “It’s very disappointing. We felt like we were in the game at half time, at 8-6 down, and we were confident that if we started well in the second half, which we did, we could kick on and make them pay because of our fitness and our ability to go well in the second half, which we’ve done in previous games in the tournament. But unfortunately, we probably just didn’t take enough of our opportunities throughout the game in their 22, and vice versa, we conceded too easily ourselves.”
Despite Ireland’s resilience, France’s clinical finishing and dominance in key areas ensured their victory. With the Six Nations title race still alive, the focus now shifts to the final round of matches, where France will face Scotland, possibly without two key Irish players if further disciplinary action is taken.
